Presidential disaster declared following July flooding

Areas of the Upper Wapsi Watershed experienced severe flash flooding in July, prompting a presidential disaster declaration. Check out the video, shared by Bremer County Emergency Management, of flooding in the community of Sumner.

By admin|2017-08-29T10:27:17-05:00August 29th, 2017|Categories: Uncategorized|Comments Off

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The Wapsipinicon River stretches over 290 miles from the Iowa/Minnesota border all the way to the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa. Although it only extends two miles into Minnesota, the Wapsipinicon River is the fifth largest Iowa tributary of the Mississippi, being surpassed in length only by the Des Moines, Cedar, Iowa, and Skunk rivers. It is a long narrow watershed that for 180 miles averages barely more than 15 miles wide and thus it has no major tributary.

Even though it is narrow, this watershed covers 4.5% of Iowa. The Wapsipinicon River boasts the longest, continuous stretch of natural and scenic river corridor in the Iowan Surface Region of Iowa. Much of that river corridor is in public ownership and dominated by wooded wetlands and riparian forests that provide habitat for birds, reptiles and other animal species, as well as birders, boaters, paddlers and anglers.

Presidential disaster declared following July flooding